Theory of topological quantum phase transitions in 3D noncentrosymmetric systems

We have constructed a general theory describing the topological quantum phase transitions in 3D systems with broken inversion symmetry. While the consideration of the system's codimension generally predicts the appearance of a stable metallic phase between the normal and topological insulators, it is shown that a direct topological phase transition between two insulators is also possible when an accidental band crossing (ABC) occurs along directions with high crystalline symmetry. At the quantum critical point (QCP), the energy dispersion becomes quadratic along one direction while the dispersions along the other two orthogonal directions are linear, which manifests the zero chirality of the band touching point (BTP). Due to the anisotropic dispersion at QCP, various thermodynamic and transport properties show unusual temperature dependence and anisotropic behaviors.Comment: 5+6 pages, 3+5 figures, 1 tabl

Learning to Discriminate Information for Online Action Detection

From a streaming video, online action detection aims to identify actions in the present. For this task, previous methods use recurrent networks to model the temporal sequence of current action frames. However, these methods overlook the fact that an input image sequence includes background and irrelevant actions as well as the action of interest. For online action detection, in this paper, we propose a novel recurrent unit to explicitly discriminate the information relevant to an ongoing action from others. Our unit, named Information Discrimination Unit (IDU), decides whether to accumulate input information based on its relevance to the current action. This enables our recurrent network with IDU to learn a more discriminative representation for identifying ongoing actions. In experiments on two benchmark datasets, TVSeries and THUMOS-14, the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a significant margin. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our recurrent unit by conducting comprehensive ablation studies.Comment: To appear in CVPR 202

Depressed Neuronal Growth Associated Protein (GAP)-43 Expression in the Small Intestines of Mice Experimentally Infected with Neodiplostomum seoulense

Neodiplostomum seoulense (Digenea: Neodiplostomidae) is an intestinal trematode that can cause severe mucosal pathology in the small intestines of mice and even mortality of the infected mice within 28 days after infection. We observed neuronal growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) expression in the myenteric plexus of the small intestinal wall of N. seoulense-infected mice until day 35 post-infection (PI). BALB/c mice were infected with 200 or 500 N. seoulense metacercariae isolated from naturally infected snakes and were killed every 7 days for immunohistochemical demonstration of GAP-43 in the small intestines. N. seoulense-infected mice showed remarkable dilatation of intestinal loops compared with control mice through days 7-28 PI. Conversely, GAP-43 expression in the mucosal myenteric plexus was markedly (P<0.05) reduced in the small intestines of N. seoulense-infected mice during days 7-28 PI and was slightly normalized at day 35 PI. From this study, it is evident that neuronal damage occurs in the intestinal mucosa of N. seoulense-infected mice. However, the correlation between intestinal pathology, including the loop dilatation, and depressed GAP-43 expression remains to be elucidated

Severe recurrent nocturnal hypoglycemia during chemotherapy with 6-mercaptopurine in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Various endocrine dysfunctions occur during chemotherapy, including hypoglycemia. However, reports of hypoglycemia associated with 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) are rare. Herein, we report an 8-year-old boy with severe symptomatic hypoglycemia likely due to 6-MP during chemotherapy. He had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia 3 years previously and was in the maintenance chemotherapy period. Treatment included oral dexamethasone, methotrexate, and 6-MP, of which only 6-MP was administered daily. Hypoglycemic symptoms appeared mainly at dawn, and his serum glucose dropped to a minimum of 37 mg/dL. Laboratory findings showed nothing specific other than increased serum cortisol, free fatty acids, ketone, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase. Under the hypothesis of hypoglycemia due to chemotherapy drugs, we changed the time of 6-MP from evening to morning and recommended him to ingest carbohydrate-rich foods before bedtime. Hypoglycemia improved dramatically, and there was no further episode during the remaining maintenance chemotherapy period. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this type of hypoglycemia occurring in an Asian child including Korean

Factors Affecting the Sexual Function of Pregnant Women

PURPOSE: To determine whether maternal attitude toward sex during pregnancy and health-related quality of life could influence sexual function of pregnant women. METHODS: In this study, 138 second and third trimester pregnant women completed self-report questionnaires during their visits to women&apos;s hospitals or community health centers to assess their general characteristics, attitude toward sex during pregnancy (PIES-M), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D), and sexual function (FSFI-6K). Multiple regression analysis was performed to test the research model with SPSS version 23. RESULTS: Pregnant women who had discontinued their sexual life after recognizing their pregnancy accounted for 27.5% of women questioned. The average sexual function score of pregnant women was higher in the second trimester than the third trimester. Attitude toward sex during pregnancy (β=−.38, p&amp;lt; .001), maintaining sexual life (β=.20, p=.028), health-related quality of life (β=.18, p=.030), and adverse symptoms during sex (β=.18, p=.042) were determinants of sexual function during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Nurses in antenatal care units need to help pregnant women maintain a positive attitude toward sexual activity during pregnancy and manage their health-related quality of life to maintain their sexual life during pregnancy

Benign Aspirates on Follow-Up FNA May Be Enough in Patients with Initial Atypia of Undetermined Significance/Follicular Lesion of Undetermined Significance

Background. Management of thyroid nodules with benign aspirates following atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) is not well established. We reviewed the risk of malignancy and the role of ultrasound (US) features among thyroid nodules with benign results following initial AUS/FLUS diagnoses. Methods. From December 2009 to February 2011, a total of 114 nodules in 114 patients diagnosed as benign on follow-up fine-needle aspiration (FNA) after AUS/FLUS results were included in our study. Eight among 114 nodules were confirmed pathologically and 106 were clinically observed by a follow-up FNA or US. Suspicious US features were defined as markedly hypoechogenicity, irregular or microlobulated margin, presence of microcalcifications, and taller than wide shape. Results. There were 110 (96.5%) benign nodules and 4 (3.5%) malignant nodules. Two (4.8%) among 42 nodules without suspicious US features and 2 (2.8%) out of 72 nodules with suspicious US features were confirmed as malignancy, but there were no significant associations between the malignancy rate and US features (P=0.625). Conclusion. Clinical follow-up instead of surgical excision or continuous repeat FNA may be enough for benign thyroid nodules after AUS/FLUS. The role of US features might be insignificant in the management of these nodules

Autonomous control of terminal erythropoiesis via physical interactions among erythroid cells

AbstractIn vitro erythropoiesis has been studied extensively for its application in the manufacture of transfusable erythrocytes. Unfortunately, culture conditions have not been as effective as in vivo growth conditions, where bone marrow macrophages are known to be a key regulator of erythropoiesis. This study focused on the fact that some erythroblasts are detached from macrophages and only contact other erythroblasts. We hypothesized that additional factors regulate erythroblasts, likely through either physical contact or secreted factors. To further elucidate these critical factors, human erythroblasts derived from cord blood were cultured at high density to mimic marrow conditions. This growth condition resulted in a significantly increased erythroid enucleation rate and viability. We found several novel contact-related signals in erythroblasts: intercellular adhesion molecule-4 (ICAM-4) and deleted in liver cancer-1 (DLC-1). DLC-1, a Rho-GTPase-activating protein, has not previously been reported in erythroid cells, but its interaction with ICAM-4 was demonstrated here. We further confirmed the presence of a secreted form of human ICAM-4 for the first time. When soluble ICAM-4 was added to media, cell viability and enucleation increased with decreased nuclear dysplasia, suggesting that ICAM-4 is a key factor in contact between cells. These results highlight potential new mechanisms for autonomous control of erythropoiesis. The application of these procedures to erythrocyte manufacturing could enhance in vitro erythrocyte production for clinical use

Reduction formulae from the factorization Theorem of Littlewood-Richardson polynomials by King, Tollu and Toumazet

The factorization theorem by King, Tollu and Toumazet gives four different reduction formulae of Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. One of them is the classical reduction formula of the first type while others are new. Moreover, the classical reduction formula of the second type is not a special case of KTT theorem. We give combinatorial proofs of reduction formulae in terms of tableaux or hives. The proofs for the cases $r=1, 2, n-2$ in terms of tableaux and the proof for the classical reduction formula of the second type in terms of hives are new